Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine 1918-1948

In this compact book the stories of British lives in Palestine is told through their diaries and life experiences. This is not the story of war or occupation or colonialism or polemic we are used to but a poignant fair account of individual people trapped in a hard situation, living their everyday lives. We learn of the early mandate, of Zionism and anti-Semitism among the English officers and their wives. We learn about the riots, the various governors, the Palestinian revolt, the Jewish terrorism, the war years when Rommel seemed on the border of victory, all these things and more. An immensely fair account given the nature of the story and the subsequent controversy, this book, more than most, perhaps captures the truth behind `colonialism' it wasn't a racist terrible thing made up of brutal unfeeling people, rather the colonialists were everyday people concerned with themselves and the events around them and usually working to improve the lots of the country to which they had entrusted their lives. The mandate period is fascinating and this is a fair and just picture of it. Seth J. Frantzman